I'm grounded.

Grounded? Yes, grounded.

From the grocery.....

It's the other place that my paycheck goes to. Half goes to my car payment, the other half to publix. Car payments make me sad, cooking makes me happy. It's a vicious cycle, really.

So I have been coming up with very inventive dinners based upon what is in my cabinet. Lucky for me I have a gourmet cabinet/fridge. The other night I used the last of my good white wine making a sauce, which I tossed with elbow mac, topped with canned tomato sauce, chopped chicken fingers and shredded cheese. See! Creative, yet.... non gourmet. Eh.

So last night, we had a "fish fry". There was a trio of campfire goodies: baked crunchy fish fillets, "hush puppies" (which were actually mini corn muffins) and the star of the show... twice baked potatoes!


Twice Baked Potatoes for Two
recipe by me

2 idaho potatoes, scrubbed and baked (any potato, i prefer idaho)
4 strips of bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon chopped garlic
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup shredded gouda (or any cheese you prefer)
1/4 cup sour cream
pepper to taste
some sort of seasoning salt (i used emeril's) to taste
splash of buttermilk (milk or cream would work too)

Bake the potatoes, cut a weird oval from the top and scoop out the meat into a mixing bowl. Fry the bacon and set it aside to drain and cool. Fry the onions in the grease until they start to brown. Add the garlic and cook for a minute longer. Drain the onions and garlic and put them into the mix. Add all the ingredients into the bowl, except the milk. Mix well and then add the milk. You want it to be almost too wet. Baking them again takes a lot of moisture out. Stuff your shells and re-bake the potatoes in a 350* over for 20 minutes.

~~~~~

The key to good twice baked potatoes is to actually bake (not in foil) them the first time. I of course did not have an additional hour and a half since it was a week night, so I cheated and used the microwave. It works the same, but it does not harden the skin, which makes it a little tricky when you are scooping out the insides.

Bradley dubbed them "a big hit". I'm glad the fish fry went well.

Can we have a round of applause for me having made cornbread for the first time?! You should of seen bradley's face, "You made what?".